Finding and checking suppliers
Onboarding a supplier.
Onboarding is the point where verification, compliance and commercial terms are settled once so they do not have to be argued later. It takes an afternoon and it prevents most of what goes wrong on a first order.
Identity and legitimacy.
Cheap, fast, and it catches the losses that matter most.
- 01
Full legal name and form
PT, CV or UD, exactly as registered. This is what you match everything else against.
- 02
Registration and licensing record
Checked in the Indonesian system rather than accepted as a document.
- 03
Address and premises
A real address that matches the registration, verified by a visit or an audit.
- 04
Bank account in the company name
Matching the legal name exactly. A mismatch here is the single most common route to a loss.
- 05
Screening
Against sanctions and restricted party lists, dated and recorded.
Capability.
Whether they make it or buy it, asked directly. Both answers are workable and only one of them means you are auditing the right building.
Capacity, honestly stated against your intended volume, including what happens in their peak season.
Existing customers in your market, and what they ship there. A supplier who already serves your market knows your paperwork.
An audit for anything you will buy repeatedly, before the first order rather than after a problem.
Compliance.
Every certificate you will need, with numbers, verified with the issuing bodies rather than looked at.
The specific documents your destination requires, confirmed as obtainable for this product from this producer.
Test reports where your market requires them, on the actual product rather than on something similar.
Allergen, species and material declarations, in writing, because these become your label.
Commercial.
The written specification with measurable terms, agreed and signed.
Payment terms, with the balance attached to a passed inspection.
Incoterm and named place, chosen deliberately.
Two named contacts with direct numbers, so a holiday or a resignation does not stop everything.
A sealed reference sample held by both sides, signed and dated.
Questions buyers ask.
Is this too much for a small first order?
The identity checks are never too much, because they take twenty minutes and they prevent the losses that end businesses. The audit and the full compliance work can scale with the size of the commitment.
What if they will not provide something?
Ask why, because the reason is informative. Reluctance to give a full formulation is normal commercial caution and reluctance to confirm the legal name and bank account is not.
How long does onboarding take?
The desk checks are an afternoon. An audit and certificate verification take a week or two, and any registration your own market requires is usually the long pole.
Read next.
How to verify an Indonesian supplier
Two public government registries, the cross-check between them that catches most problems before a deposit moves, and the part only a visit can answer.
PT, CV and what the letters mean
The letters in front of a supplier's name carry real information about liability, capital and ownership.
Screening who you deal with
Checking who is on the other side of a transaction is an obligation. What it involves.
What an export contract should say
Twelve clauses that decide what happens when something goes wrong, and the three buyers leave out and regret.
Reading a supplier's website
Ten minutes on a supplier's site answers questions before you ask them. Signal, noise and warnings.
Sourcing from Indonesia?
Tell us the product, the quantity and the destination. We come back with what it involves before anyone talks about money.